The widths or heights of spaces to be covered with curtains or drapes, or shelving systems and scaffolding vary greatly. In order to accommodate such spaces, fixed length support rods must be made in a correspondingly large number of lengths and heights. Because it is economically impractical for rod and or scaffolding and other support column suppliers to stock rods in such a large number of sizes, fixed rods must often be custom made thereby increasing their cost and resulting in an often undesirable delay before the rods are available for use.
The aforementioned problems associated with fixed rods and other support columns have generally been overcome through the use of adjustable rods. Typically, rods having multiple segments can be provided as slidably connected whereby one segment (the nested member) can be received in another (the nesting member) for telescoping movement to extend or retract the multi-segmented rod over a continuous range between a minimum length and a maximum length.
For a more accurate selection of length, as well as the ability to support more weight, many such adjustable-length rods are indexed via the use of openings in the nesting member, with a biased detent of the nested member configured to extend into a selected one of the openings, fixing the length of the adjustable rod.
Other solutions involve the use of bars inserted into aligned openings in both the nested and nesting members, or friction coupling and other similar couplers that, if the rod is used to vertically support weight, may require the use of external tools to shorten or lengthen the rod as desired. Moreover, protrusions on the external surface of the rods may be disadvantageous, either for aesthetic reasons, or for free motion of components coupled to the rod when that motion is desired.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved adjustable indexed rod, such as a telescopic rod having a substantially smooth exterior surface, and/or that does not require external tools for adjusting the length thereof.